When I was a kid I was trying to figure out how poetry worked. I wasn't a gifted writer, but I was curious about how it worked, kind of like from an engineering perspective, though I would be a sorry excuse for an engineer. I studied it from a college textbook when I was 12, maybe, and then went through the whole Norton Anthology. I just tried to figure it out from the inside. I still wanted to be a poet.
I went to school with certain poets, figuring them out, like William Blake, WCW. I've done this with Borges, Frank O'Hara. I still do this in music, with Monk.
I found a place in academia where I could continue this, and rose near to the top of this world. I studied languages, became an expert in my own subfield.
So if anyone else reading has done this, how can we place a value on work that does not reflect an equivalent level of dedication and training? How can we say that it also deserves praise?
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